au natural

Usually when it comes to newborn portraits, au natural implies a naked baby. We didn’t take any bootie shots for this session. Instead, today’s au natural was for those very real and candid moments at home, plus a few staged images in a very natural environment. An example? I arrived a bit early, so while mama was changing Sweet S. in the main room, I caught the two in focus through an arched wall. As for the outdoor images, Sylvia was sweeter than a pea pod out in her garden. While we couldn’t get this energetic newborn to drift asleep, I was able to catch her resting her eyes just long enough for the image above. Isn’t she just so precious!?

Ooh baby, what a day.

Do you ever have days that just feel like an adventure through and through? For months I’ve been planning on driving back home towards Marietta for my 10 year high school reunion on Saturday. As circumstance would have it, I won’t be able to make the trip after all, but instead went to visit my old stomping grounds today while Ryan stayed up here in Columbus to hang out with Jenkins as he worked. In a period of one day I met with a new friend and her three boys, stopped by to see a very near and dear old friend and kids, drove up to my parents new home to visit for a couple of hours and then jetted over to my brother’s where I met my newest niece and took some photos (of course…sprinkled through this post).

On the drive home my head still hopped from meeting to meeting and I was just so pleased with the day. Here are some highlights as I experienced them:

Little A. with black and blue teeth & fingers crunching and clutching to a miniature Spiderman made of sugar-icing

The thrill of boys winning tickets at the arcade, even if earning just enough for a piece of bubblegum and a tootsie roll

Watching pennies & nickels swirl round and round in the wishing well, their revolutions getting tighter and faster until they whirred into oblivion

Baby T. swimming in a pile of curls and swallowed up by a cream shaggy rug.

Miss A. going on the big girl potty all by herself and then running around pants-less in celebration

Big sister pointing out a picture of her little friend on her bedroom wall…the child of one of my old friends who I haven’t seen in years, but totally visualize since the snapshot of her little one bares so much resemblance.

A large bouquet of wild tigerlilies

Choosing a fresh tomato from the vine to be sliced in half and shared between my mother and I along with homemade potato salad and sandwiches

Daddy/brother making his big girl squeal with giggles while Mamma watches over her sleeping baby

Pink lightning on the interstate

I hope you’ll enjoy tomorrow, whatever it may bring…be sure to cherish those little moments! In the meantime, feel free to enjoy these sweet snaps of Baby H. and her big sister.

Parte Dos

Alas, my images are uploading just fine today to the blog. Here’s the rest of a sneak peek of one of my favorite families in the world. “L”, I believe, was the very first person I ever took portraits of when she was just a baby. Now she’s got a little sister and brother added into the family as well.

And, I may have mentioned yesterday, but can you guess how old this tiniest tot is? Despite those long locks, this little guy is only three months old! He’s already had about an inch and a half cut off of his hair and Mama was holding out to make it through this session before he gets haircut number two. Perhaps he’ll be a dark-haired Fabio in the next several years??

Little Boy Blue

Just a quick image to add for tonight of this ah-dorable 3 month old. I’ve been trying to upload images to here for the past couple of hours with very little luck. Keep your eyes peeled in the morning when I hope to conquer the blog monster!

Fresh as a Rose

This sweet baby girl was born just this week. At just a few days old, she slept nearly the entire time (fantastic for my line of work!) and didn’t make a single accident for her “nakey-baby” photos (which is unheard of for a newborn session but still quite welcomed!). We did put a lot of effort into the image of her on a chair, slipping a binky in and out, waiting for eyes to close and with dad supporting baby C.’s little bottom, camera left. But once she would hit those Zzz’s, we could scoot her here and move her there like a baby-doll…what a perfectly precious little girl.

Help Design Our Site!

I’ve been scratching my head over this since last week. I photographed L&I specifically to create a new look for our splash page (the first thing you see when you enter our website). I had a simple idea in my head and now that it comes time to put everything together, I keep changing my mind. I’ve been asking Ryan every five minutes, “this one…or this??”. I also pulled out a fantastic image of Miss S. taken last year which I’ve been toying with as well.

The goal is to attract to a crowd of trendy 20&30-somethings looking for the coolest engagement or anniversary portraits in town, but at the same time, make sure people remember that our main specialty is still capturing those carefree kids since that’s what I love to do above all else. So your mission is to take a look below and vote in our poll. Which splash image most tickles your fancy? I’ll be checking in over the next few days and will base our design off of your opinions!

Vintage Baby

Miss N. gets to travel to Spain very soon for her baptism ceremony. Today we photographed her in a beautiful gown and bonnet, as well as in a delicate little dress given to her at birth as a gift. I couldn’t help but to create some very antique/vintage effects for some of these images (something I seem to be getting more and more drawn to as of late). Of course, I still had to show some of those really bright and fresh images as well so show off some spunk, so these lucky parents get a double-dose out of their blog preview thanks to having such an inspirational little girl!

Brand New Baby

With an extra week of suspense, today I was finally able to meet Mr. Benjamin. I think this must be a pretty lucky week for me (see a few posts down), because today’s session was ah-mazing! Ben slept nearly the entire time, a true blessing when it comes to newborn sessions…likewise for his little watchdog, Coco! His mom and dad are very lucky to have such a great little guy, and he’s lucky to have them as well.

Paris in the Springtime

I’ve got so much to chat about this morning! This is the third time I’ve met Miss A. at the Park of Roses. If you bump into her on the street, I’d be asking for an autograph if I were you. I have a feeling this little gal is gonna be going places someday…she’s already writing both the notes & lyrics to her own music and acting up a storm! One image that we took this morning had reminded me so much of one taken a couple of years ago. She still has those same intense, blue eyes, but is definitely starting to look like a little young lady. Such a subtle change, but yet such a large change at the same time. And of course, “Daddy” saw the fountain running and Miss A. entered the pool for a carefree, Parisian-inspired image. She made an unexpected splash in the water, but still looked so fair all bundled up in her father’s suit jacket. I’m already looking forward to our next session!

Puppuccino

What an exciting day here at the studio! We had a great turnout for our doggy mini-sessions and awesome donations to be given to charity. Plus, every furry friend received a deliciously decorated cookie from Three Dog Bakery. Above is a preview of the day. I swear, Jenkins has never eaten so much in his life. He even got a “puppuccino” from Starbucks on the way home (a short whipped cream) since I treated myself to a frappuccino to soothe a sore throat. I blame the barking, howling, coughing and sneezing…that I did to catch these pups’ attention!

(Reposting) Friday Doggy Mini-Sessions

If you’ve signed up for our newsletters, then you’re already in the know…Friday, June 12th we’ll be offering sessions for the furriest members of your family! Schedule a mini-session for your dog between 2-6pm at our studio near the Short North. Please bring a dog-related donation (food, leashes, toys, etc.) to cover your session fee that we can pass along to a local shelter. Images from your session can be ordered online for a period of two weeks, and you’ll have a keepsake of your precious pooch to treasure forever!

Love this Baby

For the first time in perhaps (um, ever), I am sitting here typing about a session of baby ‘n family without a single back pain or drop of sweat. Little “O” has got to be one of the most mild-mannered babes I’ve ever met. Just thinking back in my mind, I believe we photographed the family in 3 outfits, and O. in another 1 or 2 on his own, plus we finished up in just over an hour and a half. In the history of sessions, that has never, never happened! This little guy and his beautiful parents were all just so fabulous to work with and all love each other so very much.

Thanks J&A for coming out today…enjoy the sneak peek!

Love in the Short North

I just had an awesome time tonight with this trendy urban couple. L. had mentioned wanting to do something like this a few months back, as they haven’t had professional images taken since their engagement more than five years ago (I guess married life will do that to you!). Anyways, Ry and I have been updating our branding the past few weeks and I decided to do an entire session based around our new website splash page. These two are simply gorgeous and so in love…absolutely perfect to welcome anyone coming to visit our site!

Below is a really short slideshow to share just a few highlights from tonight:

The Most Beautiful Couple in the World

You hear me say “I love my job” all the time here on the blog. Tonight’s session took that one step further. I am completely honored to have met this couple and to get to spend just a couple hours with them to hear their stories and photograph their love. Married for 54 years, these two flirted and combatted like newlyweds. There was hardly a downbeat between this ornery husband and feisty wife. I got to hear stories of their fantastic son as a mischievous child and his sisters, plus the story about a lost diamond, now buried and never to belong to anyone else. Just the tiniest insight into their history together was a precious gift.

If you’d like to schedule a session like this with your parents or grandparents, please don’t hesitate to get in touch! This is one of the most special things a person can give.

Snips ‘n Spice

Tonight I would like to introduce some of the best-dressed kids around. Moms, if you’re trying to figure out what to dress your little girl in for a photo session, be sure to check out Matilda Jane! Miss M. seemed to have nearly the entire line to choose from, and if I had an entire day to photograph, I would have used each and every outfit. And for A., how can you go wrong with a Superman shirt and cape?

Although, far more important than the clothes, are the personalities. These two should totally bottle their spunk ‘n energy and put it up for sale. I’ve been working on conditioning for 5K runs (and if you know me well, then you also know I have a long way to go), but if I could just figure out how to channel M and A’s energy, I think I’d be preparing for a 10K run!

Tomorrow Night

We’re just finishing up getting the exhibit ready for local artist, Rebecca O’Neil. Above is a sneak peek of what you’ll be seeing if you come out to our studio tomorrow night to view her work. We’ll have our doors open from 4-10pm (Gallery Hop hours) with an artist reception starting at 7pm if you would like to meet Rebecca in person or purchase her artwork. You can find us at:

139 East 2nd Ave.
Columbus, OH 43201

across from St. Joseph Montessori and just a block East of High St. in the Short North. Hope to see you soon!

(reposting) Gallery Hop w/ Rebecca O’Neil

Reposting this and also adding that this weekend the Columbus Arts Festival is in town. There will be lots of fabulous art around the city on Saturday!

Just wanted to pass along info for our June Gallery Hop night/Open House. Come out Saturday, June 6th between 4-10pm to see artwork by local artist, Rebecca O’Neil on display at our studio. Come after 7pm to meet Rebecca herself during her artist’s reception. Below is an excerpt from Rebecca’s website and it was so beautiful, I just had to share. We really hope you can make it out and share this info with all your friends. We’d be ecstatic if we could grow these events to huge proportions!

These are the reasons:

The door in the bookshelves.
Vines that curl like cursive.
Thin crescent moons.
Sunlight behind eyelids.
A house at the edge of the world.
A frog with butterfly wings.
Downward-curving stairs.
A tree full of fireflies.
A jeweled heart in a green jungle.
Water lilies that glow like bleached hair.
The pink star inside the red lollipop.
Flowers creeping over books.
The shadows of veins.
The shadows of eyelashes.
Stories.
Music.
Color.

Sparkspace

Just wanted to give you all a heads up about our newest display. If you ever need a place to gather for a business meeting, teambuilding workshop or any other type of conference, Sparkspace is the place in Columbus where you want to be. Every time I visit I get so renewed with energy and inspired to take on any creative project (I’ve got a couple things mulling around in my mind just from today’s visit!). So, of course, Ryan and I are beyond ecstatic to be able to say that you can now find our work there!

Thanks to Mark Henson of Sparkspace for taking this photo!

Baby on the Way

I met this beautiful, young couple out at Blendon Woods this evening. We had postponed the session last night due to potential bad weather and ended up with such a gorgeous evening tonight!

One of my favorite things about this job is getting to watch people interact with each other. This couple is so in love and were just adorable to watch flirting and dancing around with each other. I got to meet two of their “babies” this evening (Lily & Rudy who joined us for some photos along the pet trail). In another month or so I’ll also get to meet the real baby, so keep your eyes peeled for an update!

Footloose

I met up with the W’s this evening at the New Albany Country Club. We couldn’t have asked for a more beautiful evening. The boys, F & T, were fantastic…a healthy dose of ornery with just a dash of freckles! These two brothers would wrestle around, climb trees and just be downright adorable. No wonder F already has two girlfriends! Enjoy the sneak peek!